The Dragonet Prophecy

The SandWing has won too many battles. Queen Scarlet promises that if a prisoner wins enough times, they’ll be set free. However, they must fight Peril, who always wins. During the fight with Peril, the SandWing, Horizon, screams in agony every time Peril touches him. He doesn’t fight at first, and just tries to avoid her touch. It takes several moments for Clay to realize that Peril’s touch sets dragons—and everything else—on fire.

When Peril sets Horizon’s tail on fire, Horizon gives up fighting. He launches himself at Peril, clutching her arms and embracing her in a hug so that he will die faster. Perils holds him as he crumbles. Clay notices that some of the scorch marks on Horizon’s talons look exactly like the ones on Kestrel’s talons.

Queen Scarlet announces that what they just saw was “boring” and promises the crowd “something we’ve never seen before” (133) in the upcoming days. She snidely chastises Peril for not doing enough to make the battle interesting. As the Queen’s guards roll the sleeping Glory away, Clay worries that she might be drugged, sick, or otherwise in grave danger. He worries about Sunny, and he worries about Starflight, who he knows the Queen is eager to put in the arena soon.

That night, Peril visits Clay again with a charred duck. She sits quietly waiting for him to awake, startling him when he does. Peril sounds less confident than she did when they first met. Clay asks her if she’s alright, when he really wants to ask what’s wrong with her and if she likes to kill other dragons.

Clay questions why she does what the queen tells her to do, and Peril explains that the queen is the only person who takes care of her and keeps her alive. Peril explains that she burned her twin “to a crisp” (138) while they were still in the egg. When Peril’s mother tried to kill her, Queen Scarlet rescued Peril and executed her mother. She tells Clay that she’s not supposed to visit with him, but she only has one other friend. She likes Clay, and he returns the sentiment, even though he worries that Peril is a monster.

Clay worries that he might be a monster, too. He worries that if he were forced to kill another dragon, he might decide he likes it. Peril thinks that she was “born to kill other dragons” (138) and based on what he shares with her about himself, she’s excited that she and Clay might be kindred spirits.

Clay takes advantage of Peril’s openness and tries to use their connection to help his friends. He begs Peril to convince the queen to save Starflight’s entry into the arena for another time. Instead of revealing that Starflight can’t fight and doesn’t have any NightWing powers yet, he tells her that his power is unpredictable, and the queen might not get the excitement she hopes for by putting him in the arena. Peril promises to try to convince Queen Scarlet.

Clay returns to worrying about his “true nature” (138). He worries about what he might learn about himself if he is forced to kill or be killed. If he must go against Peril, he wonders if he would choose to fight or die a swift painful death like Horizon’s. He hates that he won’t know until he’s in the arena.